Laitila Coating Oy celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. To secure its future direction, the company is actively seeking the latest technologies for its production operations. This autumn, the company strengthened its sheet metal processing capabilities with a Salvagnini P2Lean panel bender.
Founded in 2002, Laitila Coating Oy has roots extending back to the early 1980s in the field of surface treatment. In 2006, technologies supporting the surface treatment side of the business were added to the company’s operations. – The first products we manufactured were water-circulated drying racks, and soon our production programme also included busbars manufactured from profile material, which remain an important product group for us. Today, we also manufacture busbars from sheet material, a sector which our latest investment, the Salvagnini panel bender, also supports, says Managing Director Kai Salo.
Finland’s first Salvagnini P2Lean panel bender with Bend and Cut feature delivered to Laitila Coating
The P2Lean, the best-selling model in recent years from the world’s largest panel bender factory located in Ennsdorf, Austria, has also arrived in Finland, as Laitila Coating acquired a Salvagnini P2Lean-2120 panel bender with Bend and Cut feature as the bending technology for its growing thin sheet metal production.
Salvagnini’s patented technologies, such as the MAC 3.0 feature, which automatically corrects the bending angle during the cycle according to springback caused by variations in material stiffness, or the ABA blankholder tool length adjustment, which adapts to different bending lengths without set-up times affecting throughput time, ensure that the productivity of the P2Lean panel bender remains the same regardless of batch size. Since 1977, Salvagnini, as a pioneer in the field, has developed unique and continuously advanced features in Lean panel bending technology, enabling a true One Piece Flow production environment.
Almost all Lean panel benders delivered to Finland in recent years have been equipped with the Bend and Cut feature, as the range of suitable bendable parts increases significantly with Bend and Cut capability. Typical examples include narrow profiles previously bent manually on press brakes, or small fastening or support hook applications previously produced, for example, with press technology and mass-customised dimensions.
Digital production and Industry 4.0 manufacturing are enabled by Salvagnini’s new StreamBendAuto office programming software module, which allows a bending programme to be created directly from a 3D model fully automatically without any manual work phases. Naturally, the automatically created programme can be safety-checked using the programming software’s simulation tool, after which the programme is sent via the network to the work queue of the P2Lean panel bender. All of Salvagnini’s latest sheet metal machines are equipped with intelligent sensors and data collection, which transfer all essential machine data to the Links cloud service. From there, based on artificial intelligence, the user is proactively informed of possible component wear and replacement needs.
“A machine that looks like us”
Kai Salo summarises the background to the Salvagnini investment as follows: – We are also capable of efficient high-volume production, but we are at our strongest in small and medium-sized series. Speed, quality and punctuality are the cornerstones of our operations. The new Salvagnini acquisition further supports these aspects. Salvagnini clearly stood out from the other alternatives thanks to its technological leadership, and the machine is suitable both for our current needs and for our future visions. Thanks to Salvagnini, we achieve top quality in our fast-paced operating model, starting from single-piece production. This is a new type of machine for us, enabling expansion into new types of products. Thanks to the machine, we have already gained new work right from the initial stages. In summary, one could say that Salvagnini is a machine that looks like us.
Salvagnini as one solution to the prevailing labour shortage
– The starting point for acquiring the Salvagnini was to increase capacity. We have around 70 employees with extremely strong professional competence, but finding new employees is very challenging. Highly automated equipment of this type also serves as one solution to the prevailing labour shortage. Salvagnini can also be robotised, and this option will likely be utilised in the future, Salo reflects.
A system supplier with versatile surface treatments under the same roof
Today, Laitila Coating is a contract manufacturer of mechanical assemblies and a component subcontractor. The company manufactures demanding surface-treated subassemblies while also operating as a contract subcontractor in surface treatment. – In addition to surface treatments, we manufacture complete system deliveries for customers and act as a contract manufacturer for various product assemblies. The experience and expertise acquired over the years guarantee high quality. Our technology is up to date and our personnel are motivated. Our operations are responsible, and environmental matters are close to our heart. We invest in the development of professional expertise and in the quality of work, Managing Director Kai Salo summarises the company’s operations.
– Our intention is to differentiate ourselves through our own surface treatment capabilities, where our special expertise lies in electrolytic surface treatment. Powder coating and marking are also part of our surface treatment production. Modern and extensive line and equipment facilities in surface treatment enable us to operate broadly as a subcontractor for a wide range of international and domestic customers. Our own surface treatment lines enable clearer control of overall quality. In addition, adherence to tight delivery schedules is more controlled when the entire process, including surface treatment, is under our own control and under the same “roof”, Salo assesses.
Laitila Coating is an exceptionally comprehensive operator, with a highly versatile range of manufacturing methods under the same roof: flat material production, thin sheet metal work, CNC turning and machining, extremely broad-based surface treatment operations, welding and joining, as well as various system deliveries in general. – We serve approximately one hundred active customers annually, with the largest sectors being medium-heavy electrical engineering industry, operations related to HVAC wholesale, and, broadly speaking, customers in the technology industry, says Salo.
Revenue in rapid growth
The comprehensive operating model chosen by Laitila Coating Oy, based on highly value-added manufacturing, has proven very successful, as the previous financial year’s turnover of EUR 16 million will grow this year to EUR 23 million.
– The current growth rate appears set to continue next year as well, and in exports, for example, there is considerable growth potential, particularly thanks to our unique surface treatment capabilities. Even outside Finland, there are hardly any comparable operators with such an extensive range of production technologies combined with our surface treatment capability.
